Colin Powell's fully-vaccinated widow has tested positive for COVID, just hours after her cancer-stricken husband died of the virus.
A spokesperson for the late general told Andrea Mitchell reports on Monday night that 'Colin and Alma Powell took a COVID test last Monday, October 11, and both tested positive.
'Mrs. Powell, who turns 84 on October 27, was checked, and while symptomatic is recovering at home.'
'They had both been fully vaccinated, and he had been planning to get a booster last week but was not feeling well enough,' the spokesperson said of the retired four-star general, noting: 'He had several underlying conditions: surgery for prostate cancer when he was Secretary of State and more recently multiple myeloma and Parkinson's.'
Bill Ritter, an anchor for Eyewitness News in New York, also tweeted that they both received two doses of the Moderna vaccine, and Alma has mild symptoms.
Colin Powell, the first black Secretary of State who formulated foreign policy under several presidents died from complications of the virus Monday morning, at the age of 84.
Colin Powell's widow, Alma, left, has reportedly tested positive for COVID, which her husband, right, died from early Monday morning
A spokesperson for the family confirmed Alma's diagnosis, saying she has mild symptoms and is now recovering at home
But in an interview with famed journalist Bob Woodward three months ago, Powell urged readers: 'Don't feel sorry for me, I'm 84 years old.
'I haven't lost a day of my life fighting these two diseases. I'm in good shape.'
He said he had to 'get all kind of exams' at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C., noting: 'I'm a former chairman, so they don't want to lose me, so they make me come there all the time.'
'I drive up in my Corvette, get out of the Corvette and go into the hospital,' he said, adding that he also goes to a clinic to get his blood drawn.
'I don't advertise it, but most of my friends know it.'
Powell, seen here in 1990, was the first black Secretary of State and to this day is the only black man to ever serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
In an interview with famed journalist Bob Woodward (pictured) three months before his death, Powell urged: 'Don't feel sorry for me, I'm 84 years old
He said he was suffering from blood cancer and Parkinson's Disease and had to 'get all kind of exams' at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C. (pictured)
In the candid interview, Powell offered his thoughts on today's foreign policy.
The four star general was the first black Secretary of State and to this day is the only black man to ever serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
He served under several Republican administrations – including for Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.
Also, from 1991-1993, he served as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for Bill Clinton after being appointed to the post halfway through Bush Sr's tenure.
During that time period, he helped lead forces in the Persian Gulf War - which only took 42 days to win, with a ground component lasting only four days before Bush Sr. declared a ceasefire.
The United States and coalition forces were able to overrun Kuwait and southern Iraq, destroy Saddam Hussein's army, route the Iraqi Republican Guard and dictate terms of peace.
Looking back on the war in the interview with Woodward in July, Powell said: 'I'm so proud of that, I can't see straight.
'Before the ground war started, I went to a White House meeting and pulled [then Secretary of Defense Dick] Cheney and the president aside, and I said: "You know, I got to tell you something, the ground [war] is about to start,'" he recounted.
'"And I need to warn you a little bit, that when we lose an airplane, it crashes and I lose one guy. If they hit a tank, you'll see four burning guys out of it and you will see terrible things in ground war that you will never see in air war.
"'So be prepared for that and be prepared to respond to it and defend us when we're in ground war"' he remembers telling Bush and Cheney. 'I didn't know it was going to be as easy as it was or as well-prepared as it was.'
'And they took that seriously.'
Powell served under a number of presidents, including Democrat Bill Clinton
He also served under President George W. Bush, after previously serving his father
Powell also said in the interview he supported withdrawing from Afghanistan, saying he thought 'we had to get out of there eventually.'
'[We] can't beat these guys,' he said. 'Well let's get it over with.'
'Afghanistan, you're never going to win,' he added. 'Afghans are going to win. They have hundreds willing to fight and die for this country of theirs. That's why I don't have any problem with us getting out of there.
'We can't go from 100,000 [US troops] down to a few hundred and think that'll prevail.'
